1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to porous carbon materials and methods of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, carbon materials are formed of non-graphite carbon and have hexagonal crystalline structures. Carbon materials are known to have Van der Waals bonds in the c-axis direction and covalent bonds on surfaces vertical to the c-axis, resulting in high anisotropic properties. Also, carbon materials have high specific surface areas and well-developed pore structures, and are thus widely used in a variety of fields.
For example, porous carbon materials can be used as cathode active materials of lithium secondary batteries. Carbon materials store lithium ions in the cathodes of lithium secondary batteries, and since pores are well developed in particles of the porous carbon materials, ions can be easily transferred. Thus, porous carbon materials can be utilized as matrices for high capacity low-conducting cathode active materials.
Also, porous carbon materials can store great amounts of charge on their surfaces, and thus can be used as electrode materials of electrochemical double layer capacitors or as electrode materials for ion absorption of water softeners.
Porous carbon materials can be prepared using a sol gel method, a template method, or the like. For example, one method of preparing a porous carbon material includes cross-linking resorcinol and formaldehyde under critical conditions and then heating the resultant material. An alternative method of preparing porous carbon materials uses ordered mesoporous silicon particles as a template.